Gregg Wallace will step away from presenting MasterChef while new complaints made by individuals about historical allegations of misconduct are investigated.
The presenter, 60, known for his colourful on-camera quips was previously accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to a female BBC colleague in 2018, and was forced to quit Inside the Factory over “inappropriate” remarks allegedly made to female staff last year, which he denies.
Wallace, who – among other complaints – has been accused by former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark of making jokes of a “sexualised nature” when she was competing on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011, has previously said he resents any insinuation he was “flirting” with someone who is not his wife Anna, 37.
“I say this for my wife Anna, who I’ve been true to and madly in love with since the day I met her,” he told his Instagram followers in October. “I don’t want anybody to misunderstand this and make it look like I was flirting with somebody. Nobody accused me of that and I never have.”
Wallace met his fourth wife, real name Anne-Marie Sterpini, when she tweeted him a question about rhubarb in 2013. “I just looked at Anna’s photo and thought ‘wow. She’s pretty,” the former greengrocer told Hello! of the encounter.
“So yes, rhubarb, which was considered an aphrodisiac in medieval times, brought us together,” he said.
After a flurry of messages on X/Twitter, Wallace gave Anna his number and they met in London for dinner. The couple got engaged in December 2014 and married at Hever Castle, Kent, with Wallace’s fellow MasterChef judge John Torode as best man. Five years later, they welcomed a baby boy called Sid, who has autism and is non-verbal.
Sid is not Wallace’s only child. The former MasterChef host welcomed Tom, now 29, and Libby, now 26, with his second wife Denise Lovall, whom he married in 1999. Lovall, who died in 2017 after a battle with alcoholism, divorced Wallace in 2004 having discovered he allegedly had an affair with one of his employees.
Wallace’s separation from Lovall marked his second failed marriage. Aged 24 he met his first wife Christine in a greengrocer and married her in an impromptu ceremony followed by dinner at a pie and mash shop. The marriage lasted six weeks before Christine walked out on Wallace.
Like his current wife Anna, Wallace met his third wife, Heidi Brown, on X/Twitter in 2009. “The third one was a huge mistake,” the presenter later confessed of his marriage to the biology teacher, which lasted just 14 months. “Probably the unhappiest I have ever been in my life,” he reflected on the relationship, which ended in 2012 and was followed by a sea of brief romances with “beautiful women”.
Wallace then entered therapy and was told by his practitioner he would never find happiness if he kept picking women like he picked cars, per the MailOnline. “It’s an absolute game of chance,” he told the publication of his approach to dating. “What are the chances of finding somebody who you’re not only attracted to and [who] makes you feel comfortable and happy, but is actually looking for what you have to offer?”
But just a year later, Anna slid into Wallace’s DMs, which the MasterChef judge described as like “winning the lottery’. The caterer, who is 22 years his junior, made it clear she wanted to get married and have children. “If that’s not what you want, then don’t mess me about,” she told Wallace, who admitted he didn’t want to become a dad again prior to welcoming “miracle” baby Sid in 2019 but agreed to try for a baby to make his wife happy – with some conditions.
“I had two conditions,” he recalled last year. “I said, I am not happy swapping my young, fun, sexy girlfriend for an exhausted mum, but if that’s what you want I want to get help in. The other condition was, ‘I want to have a fortnight’s holiday with you every year without a baby.’”
In order to meet Wallace’s terms, the couple moved Anna’s parents into their £1m Kent home to help with their son. Due to being a similar age to Anna’s mum Rena, who is four years older than Wallace, the TV presenter said he and his mother in law have bonded over Seventies music. “We were singing Boney M at breakfast this morning and Anna has no idea,” he told The Sun.
Wallace revealed his wife’s parents “take care of all the house stuff” and at one point even had Sid sleep in their room for half the week so he and Anna can have a break. The TV presenter, who is the sole means of income for the household, previously told The Daily Star: “Anna can’t leave me because mum would have to leave as well. For an insecure old man with a younger woman, that’s good news.”
Wallace is now facing allegations of misconduct from 13 people who worked with him on shows over a 17-year period. In light of an investigation into his conduct, Former MasterChef contestant Ulrika Jonsson, accused him of making a rape joke that “distressed” contestants. Meanwhile, an unnamed lesbian colleague claims Wallace asked her about the “logistics” of her sex life in a string of “highly inappropriate” comments. The presenter’s lawyers have denied all allegations.
Following the claims, Wallace thanked “all the people getting in touch, reaching out and showing their support” as the investigations into his conduct continue. “That’s good of you, thank you very much,” he said.
